Category Archives: Study

Enough Mucking Around, Time to Get Serious.

Posted on by
Reply

It’s nearly two weeks since I quit my job, so now I have to sort it out.

I’ve been writing, gardening, studying, spring cleaning my house, now I need to get back out there and find a job. The thing is, I don’t know what I want to do, and whether I want to be fulltime or part time.

Fulltime work would give me the money to be able to continue my writing and cards until the money from those keep coming in, but I’m also trying to get my proofreading business off the ground, and my cards, and my writing, so would part time suit that better?

I’d love to be able to not work at all, and just focus on my cards and writing, unfortunately I have had less than stellar sales in my books, and I haven’t sold any cards yet, so it really isn’t such a good idea to just try and exist on thin air.

I have a partner and a son. We share the costs of living between the three of us. And if I’m not paying, then unfortunately, there would be a few bills that didn’t get paid.

Now, if I could get something that paid mega bucks for few hours, that would be fantastic, but the chances of that are relatively slim. I’m no executive or manager, so I’m not even going to apply for those sorts of jobs. Fortunately I live in an area full of orchards, and now is a good time to find a job. There’s apple thinning, then pruning, then picking, then packing. That will last through until May. If I put aside enough money, I might not have to work over winter, which would be more than ideal, however I don’t see that working out.

Oh well, one day at a time, one step at a time. I’ll get there. I’ll work out what I need to do for the next part of my life journey.

Back to Writing

Posted on by
Reply

After two weeks of not writing, I am now back into it. I was trying to decide whether to try and write and finish a book before the end of the year, and decided, why not.

I started writing Hope and Thor’s story, the next in my Racing Harts series. Hope is currently the middle sister, and she races Sprint cars. However, I have decided that after writing the third story, Grace (the eldest) and Hope might swop ages, and Grace will become the middle child, only because Grace, who races Rally Cars, will fit between, race and time wise, between Faith and Hope. The motorbikes race over the summer, then the rally cars over the winter, then sprint cars during the speedway season. But that’s a problem for future Karen.

And to make things more interesting, I’m doing NaNoWriMo. That stands for National Novel Writing Month. It’s because November is a quiet month in the United States, where this idea came from. I’ve participated in SoCNoC which is Southern Hemisphere version when KiwiWriters was a thing.

What does NaNoWriMo actually mean? Well, it means that you write 50,000 words over the 30 days of November. Some people will cringe at that and think it must be hard. Some will wonder why I would put so much pressure on myself. I, myself am wondering why I wanted to do this, but then I look at Hope and Thor, and I know how much I enjoyed writing Faith and Cole’s story, that I wanted to continue. And if I finish before December, it means that I wrote three novels this year. Which is pretty darned cool and might mean that I have more than two novels to publish next year.

Of course, to overcommit myself further, I’ve signed up for the New Zealand Certificate in Business – a Level 4 study of setting up a small business in New Zealand. I thought that since I want to get serious with my writing, cardmaking, and proofreading, that I really should get some understanding behind me to start the business. I’m scared that I’m pushing myself too much, but if I can just get Hope and Thor’s story written before December, then I can have most of December and January off before pushing into new writing projects.

But we’ll have to see if I get NanoWriMo first.

Peace and Quiet

Posted on by
Reply

It was all go until 31 May, now it is quiet. And tomorrow is King’s Birthday weekend, so a long weekend to relax.

I’ve finished my assignments and handed them all in.

Second-Hand Daughter has launched.

And I have so many things I could be doing, and I really don’t feel like doing much. I’ve spent time in the garden weeding, planting and trimming, and napping.

I haven’t written much or edited. I’m just enjoying having some quiet time after a busy few months. It doesn’t mean I’ve given up on writing, or crafting, it just means that I’m having a week holiday. I will back into editing this week, with Compromised Positions being the next up, and that will be released later this year! So excited about that.

But in the meantime, I’m relaxing and taking some me-time.

And all it once…it ends!

Posted on by
Reply

Man, the last few weeks have been hectic, emotional and very disturbing. I’m ready for a break!

I am currently in the middle of getting my final assignment done for my organic’s course, and then I am done. I’ve given myself until 31 May to get this done (course ends on 17 June). I wasn’t sure I was going to get there, but two assignments have been submitted, so just the last one to go.

Also happening on 31st May is the launch of Second-Hand Daughter! I’ve had it up on pre-order for a while and got everything ready for it to be released on time. The books look amazing in real life, and I’ve ordered some to arrive by Friday. Saturday I’ve registered for a book sale, so it should get a few hits then too. It won’t put me on any best seller lists, but it is a successful launch.

My big boss from Aucktown is coming down this week for work to do performance reviews. I have a list of things that I intend to talk to him about, so whether I have a job or not on Tuesday is a different matter. He’s pretty good to talk to, and most of it is just niggling shit that annoys me, and probably shouldn’t.

And I have been back writing Faith’s story, been a bit here and there, but I’ve been writing. Will be nice to get everything above finished and then I can focus on writing, editing and cardmaking.

How was your week?

Catherine

Deadlines

Posted on by
Reply

This year, I’ve been trying to adhere to deadlines. I’m the kind of person who likes to get things done and not have to get extensions to get assignments / manuscripts done in time. And up until now, I’ve done alright.

I decided to do my last Organic Gardening course through Open Polytechnic in February to give myself a break over the holidays, but then I wasn’t counting into that Apple packing, which last year I did every alternate night. This year, I’ve done it Monday to Wednesday night, and as a result I’ve been exhausted Thursday and Friday, so I’ve only really had to the weekends to get anything done on my course.

The assignments are due in May – I’m not sure when, but they are due. I’ve completed the course, I just need to fill in the gaps on the assignment and do some practical courses. Like making compost. Testing Soil samples from different sites, and determining what the make up is of each site. These things are proving difficult to do, and my compost pile is being stubborn. I had to remake my compost so that they knew what I knew what I doing. The problem is, we’re going into winter, and the compost heap isn’t heating up like it should. Which means that it isn’t breaking down.

I can use my existing compost for some of the tests (seeing how many radishes come up compared to weeds) but I need to show them that my compost is working and breaking down things.

I also asked my editor to edit Compromising Positions at the end of June. And I don’t think I’m going to get it edited by then.

I don’t like breaking my deadlines, but I’m not sure that I’m going to get my assignments or book edited in time.

I will push on, and hope to get the assignments (three of them) finished by mid May, and I will try and get my story edited, but I might have to push that deadline out, if my editor is okay with that.

How has your week been? You have any deadlines that are pressing on you at the moment?

Take care out there.

Catherine

Finding Me Time

Posted on by
Reply

It’s that time of the year, where I am meeting myself coming backwards at the moment. I work fulltime as a gardener, and then from late February / March I work in three evenings a week packing apples from 5 until 9pm. It is to help out a local orchard.

Then during the school term, I have pole classes on a Thursday. By the time I get to the weekend, I am busy catching up on household chores that I don’t get done during the week because I don’t have time.

And then, because I like to complicate things so much, I am also studying my final paper in my organic’s course – Composting. Which isn’t as easy as you think. We’ve had to look at how soil develops, from chemical and physical weathering of rocks. To say it is exciting is an extremely overcomplicated process. Basically it creates sand. That’s it. Not dirt, but sand.

In the mornings i squeeze in a few minutes of writing from the time my partner and son leave the house until I need to leave the house. Which sometimes is only ten minutes, but it’s better than nothing.

On Friday night, rather than sitting and staring at a screen, I decided to get out my Queen 1000 piece puzzle. And I remembered why I had put it away in the first place. It’s rather complicated, and I spent a good hour just trying to find pieces of one of the parts of the puzzle.

But you know what. I relaxed. I breathed deep and I spent some quality time doing something that I actually enjoy doing. Because you often need to find time to do the things that you enjoy doing, just to give yourself a break from other stuff going on inside your head.

What did you do this week that you did for yourself?

Take care out there

Catherine

Winding down for the Year

Posted on by
Reply

Thank goodness I didn’t do National Novel in a Month Competition, I think I would be pulling my hair out by now.

I got my assignments done and submitted for my organics course, and with a couple of resubmits, I passed. I’ve decided to do the final course in February, it gives me some time to get back into the rhythm of work and stuff like that.

And I should have been editing Secondhand Daughter, but I haven’t. And I am putting it down to a super-secret project that I’ve been working on, and it was such a success, that I’m thinking of extending the super-secret project. I’ll only be able to tell you after Christmas what I’ve done, because they are Christmas pressies. I’m so proud of them.

I did do one chapter of edits, but things are about to go haywire at work. We’ve taken over the mowing at one of the lifestyle villages, and to say I’m rather unenthusiastic is actually an understatement. There was a reason I went to work for my current employer – they contracted out the mowing to my previous employer.

Anyway, enough of that. Now is the time of year that I start getting organised for Christmas. I used to avoid it as much as possible, but having left a relationship that made Christmas hell, and being with someone who loves Christmas and spending time with his family has really made it more enjoyable. Plus, there is less stress, not big fussy meals, no full on ‘visiting everyone in the family’. We’ve got it all sorted now, we have Christmas here, with his kids, then I head over to Wineborough with my son – and sometimes my partner, and have Boxing day with my family, as Mum, my brother and his family, and my Dad and StepMum all live in that area. It means two lots of fun family time (the second one is more funny haha though, watching Mum ignore Dad while Dad is trying to get Mum to talk to him.)

Anyway, I hope your week has been more productive.

Take care, Kia Kaha

Catherine

Done and Dusted…I Think

Posted on by
Reply

I busted a gut and got my assignments finished and handed in with a day to spare. My first one was returned, as I hadn’t completed the tasks as they asked. Which was kind of confusing, because they asked you to name two pests that would eat your plants, and that was it. The rest of the questions were about what type of climate, soil type, and drainage I have that can affect pest management etc… which I assumed to mean that they wanted answers for those two pests. No, apparently not. I had to provide answers for a range of pests (we’re talking insects here).

The last assignment was on companion planting, which I think I nailed. They haven’t responded yet to let me know if I passed or not.

So, then I thought I could do some editing, but instead I’ve ended up working on a special project. This year, I personalised a diary for my writing. It has everything in it from what I put on my Catherine Mede page, to word counts and what I’ve edited (chapters etc). It was rather challenging to try and make it up, as I have it in a weekly format and then I had to work out which pages go where for when I made my signatures. You see, I like to make books too. The exciting part is, it actually worked! I’m in the process of building my own writing planner. I have the signatures sewn together, and I’ve glued in some bookmarks, and I’m so damned proud of myself! I just need to make the covers and then it is finished. What a mission.

Anyway, hopefully I get my results this week and I can then put that part of the course behind me. I have another topic to go, but I might just start that in January, so I don’t have any more stress between now and May when the class would finish. The January intake finishes in June.

I hope you’ve had a better week

Kia kaha

Catherine.

When it Rains it drizzles…

Posted on by
Reply

So, I thought I had over three weeks to get my assignments for my Organics course done. But no. I don’t.

You see, when you log on, it tells you that the assignments are due on 26th November. Which is fine, I try and aim to have them in about a week before hand.

But I logged in on last Sunday, and they’d changed the date to the 9th of November, which was ten days away. I swore and cursed a little, and then had to knuckle down and get through the study notes to get one assignment finished. The second one is due on the 9th too, but it is only one chapter of the course material, so I can get that bowled out before Thursday.

But it’s annoying, and it’s the second time they’ve done it. I am considering laying a complaint, because it’s not fair to move the goal posts when I work full time and only have evenings to do my study. If I was unemployed, it would be my own silly mistake to be so far behind.

It also means that I haven’t done any editing this week, which is frustrating, because I want to get some done. I did however manage to get some done yesterday when I caught up with the fabulous LaVerne Clark and had a coffee together. We’ve started meeting up to encourage each other with our writing. She’s such an amazing author, and I can’t wait to see what she brings out next year. We’ve been discussing goals for next year, so watch this space.

I hope you had a better week than me.

Kia kaha

Catherine